


The Heart Of The Matter

by myownspecialself



Category: Smallville
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, Futurefic, Humor, M/M, PWP
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-04-23
Updated: 2003-04-23
Packaged: 2017-11-01 09:46:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/355182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myownspecialself/pseuds/myownspecialself
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clark and Lex discuss Clark's emerging powers, specifically, the Kiss of Forgetfulness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Heart Of The Matter

**Author's Note:**

> A birthday present for Alee--here's wishing you a wonderful, deliciously Clex-filled year! 

## The Heart Of The Matter

by Myownspecialself

<http://www.boomspeed.com/mosself/>

* * *

Date: April 2003  
Disclaimer: This story is for entertainment only. It is not for profit. Smallville is the property of Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Tollin-Robbins Productions, and Warner Bros. Television, and based upon characters originally created by Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster. Acknowledgments: Hugs and thanks to philtre and autumnyte for the beta. As always, philtre re-introduced me to the English language, and autumnyte provided clarity and insight. 

* * *

"All right, Clark. Why were you kissing Lucas?" 

"Um." Clark looked down at his hands. "Well..." 

Lex extended an arm and slid a hand against the sculpted jawline to turn Clark's face toward him. "I'm not jealous. I'm curious." He thought for a second or two. "Well, maybe a bit jealous. But definitely curious, because you didn't seem to enjoy it." 

Clark reached behind himself and rearranged the pillows. "You may find it hard to believe." He slid farther under the covers and pulled the blankets up to his chin. 

"Try me." Lex pulled back the blankets until he had exposed a satisfactory amount of Clark's bare chest. "I've had to believe some very strange things in the last few years." Leaning over, he took a nipple between his teeth and chewed gently, and Clark arched his back slightly to offer Lex a better angle. Lex chewed harder. 

"Oh." 

Lex smiled to himself. He loved hearing the hitch in Clark's voice. He nibbled again. 

"Apparently--ah--I have another power." 

Lex stopped nibbling. "I don't believe this." He leaned back against his pillow. 

"I was afraid you'd say that." 

He looked at Clark's profile and decided that if anything was unbelievable, it was Clark's long, thick eyelashes. "What I mean is, another power? Now what have you learned how to do?" 

He ran a finger lightly against Clark's lashes and watched them flutter under his touch. They were indeed real. They were still unbelievable. "And what does it have to do with kissing my brother?" He brushed a knuckle against Clark's nipple and then slid his hand down to the flat stomach. There, he rested his hand for a second before inching it lower. 

"I can erase memories." 

"Erase memories?" Lex's hand reached a small forest of short, curly hair and fearlessly advanced. 

"I can make people forget. With a kiss." 

His hand froze, right on his favorite part of Clark. "Forget. With a kiss." 

"Yes." 

"Aha." 

"'Aha?'" 

"So that might explain why I couldn't remember my personal code today when I was using my ATM card." Lex withdrew his hand. 

"You're a billionaire. Why would you stoop to using an ATM? Be serious." 

"Okay. Serious now." He took Clark's hand, and raising it to his lips, he brushed a kiss onto a fingertip. "So how--so _when_ \--did you find out about it?" 

"Earlier this week. On one of the data drives in the spaceship. Buried down about ten levels in some sub-directory. There was a file about secondary powers." Clark ran a hand over Lex's chest. "It took a couple of days for me to translate it, but what I got out of it was several references to 'osculation-induced oblivion.'" 

_Osculation_. Lex turned the word over in his mind. He stayed silent as he looked at Clark's lips and wondered which one to osculate first. The upper? No. The lower. 

"Lex?" A look of alarm crossed Clark's face as Lex moved in for the attack. "You don't believe me, do you?" 

"I believe you." He stopped and frowned at Clark. "'Osculation-induced oblivion.' So, it's a kiss. Of... forgetfulness?" 

Clark nodded. "That's what I call it, too. As far as I can tell, that's exactly what it is." 

"And how do you know it works?" 

"I tried it on Lucas. Tonight. I wasn't sure it would work. Probably because his whiskey-breath almost made me gag. But the kiss worked. You saw that, right?" 

"I saw something, but I wasn't sure if he had forgotten or if he was just in an alcoholic fog. I even thought that maybe he was doing drugs." 

"It was my kiss that made him forget the incident." Clark nodded, and looked down at his hands. "And, one time before that..." 

"You experimented on someone else." 

"Yes." 

"And who was that?" Lex took a hand and twined his fingers between Clark's. 

"You." 

"Me." 

"Yes. Night before last." 

"So you tried it on me." He noticed that Clark lowered his eyes. "Night before last. To make me forget something." He paused. "That it was _you_ who ate the entire last pint of Ben  & Jerry's ice cream?!" He sat up in the bed and glared at Clark. 

"No. And be serious." 

"I am being serious. I'm always serious about _my_ Ben  & Jerry's." 

Clark sighed. "Lex, please." 

He kissed Clark on the forehead. "The wisecracks are how I try to deal with things like this. With new situations." He shuddered in delight when Clark's finger brushed over his navel. 

"The wisecracks are because you're a pathological smart-ass, Lex." Clark's finger poked his navel. Hard. 

"So what was it you were trying to make me forget?" 

"I don't want to tell you. Because I don't want you to think about it. And if you've forgotten it, then I want it to stay that way." 

"Tell me." 

"No, I don't--" 

"Just tell me. Whatever it was, I'll remember it anyway. I'm almost one-hundred-percent sure your kiss of brainlessness didn't work. " 

" _Forgetfulness_. Not brainlessness." 

Lex waited patiently. Finally, he tugged on Clark's arm. 

"Well, all right." Clark turned to him and Lex was startled by the sadness he saw. "Remember about five years ago, when Chloe and Pete were acting crazy? Because we had gone into those caves. The ones you hired Dr. Walden to work in." 

"I remember that." Lex leaned forward and kissed Clark's collarbone. 

"And then I started acting crazy when Pete slipped a piece of red meteor rock in my pocket." 

"I remember that. Actually, what I remember is my viewing the security-camera tape when you and Chloe were disrobing on that sofa in The Talon." He grinned. "You couldn't keep your eyes off her chest. I couldn't keep my eyes off _your_ chest." 

"You destroyed that tape, right?" 

"I don't remember. Maybe because you kissed me an hour ago." 

"Not funny." 

Lex reached out. He touched a finger above Clark's chin and then brushed it along the lower lip. "Please tell me that's not a pout." 

"I'm twenty-one-years old, Lex. I don't pout." Pause. "Anymore." 

"Sorry." Lex managed to keep the smirk out of his voice. "My mistake." 

"Anyway, what I wanted you to forget was a conversation that you and I had when Pete and Chloe and I were under the influence. In the barn. I was hoping you had forgotten it after I tried the kiss on you." 

"I don't remember a conversation in the barn during that time--" 

"Really?" Clark's eyes sparkled with relief. 

"But I do remember getting told off." 

"Oh." Clark's face sagged. 

"You offered some advice. You said that if I knew what was good for me, I would stay the hell away from you." Lex caressed Clark's cheek. "Pretty useless advice, if you ask me." 

"Yeah." Clark's voice was a mournful sigh. "And then I pushed you away. Really hard." 

"Yes, you did." 

"Didn't it hurt?" 

"Not at all. I didn't fall over or hit anything." 

"No, I mean, didn't it hurt when I said all those things?" 

Lex slid closer to Clark and put his head on the broad chest. He looked up at Clark's face. "It didn't hurt very much. Somehow, I knew it wasn't the real you talking. It was just like the Clark who wore that weird red-meteor-rock ring." 

"But it still had to hurt. I know it did. I remember the look on your face after I said that." 

"You know, Clark, I _did_ manage to get over it. If I recall, a little more than a month after that incident, I was giving you your first blow-job." 

"If only you could erase the memory from _my_ mind..." 

Lex sat up abruptly. "Of your first blow-job?! I'm insulted." 

"Lex, try to follow along here. I meant, if only you could erase from my mind the memory of that hurt expression on your face." 

"Sorry, I can't do that because I don't know how to erase memories." He kissed Clark on the throat. "But what I can do is forgive you. In fact, I believe I have forgiven you." He tapped the back of Clark's hand. "Marriage in two months. Remember?" 

"In sixty-one more days and..." Clark looked over at the alarm clock and frowned, "...eleven hours. Plus twenty-one minutes. Twenty-three if you go by the clock in the kitchen." 

Lex snorted an indulgent laugh. "You're slipping. You didn't calculate the seconds." 

They lay back on the pillows, silent for a short while. 

"Um. Lex?" Clark was making big, round eyes at him. 

Uh-oh. He knew that look all too well. "Yes?" 

"Can I try again, right now? Try and erase that memory of saying those awful things to you?" 

"Clark." 

"Just that memory. Nothing else." 

"Even if it's true that you can make people forget with this super-smooch of yours, how well are you able to control it?" He poked Clark in a rib. "You used to have problems mastering the heat ray, you know, especially during orgasm. Once you set the billiards table on fire." 

"And whose fault was that, Lex? At the time, we were both bent over it and you were screaming, "Conquer me! Harder! Like that, baby. Conquer me!" 

Lex smiled in spite of himself. "That billiards table _was_ rather old and ratty-looking, anyway." He gave Clark a sly look. "And speaking of conquering, we haven't played 'The Alien Evil Overlord and the Minion' in quite a while." 

"Because you always make _me_ be the Minion. Again, your fault." Clark folded his arms across his chest. "The inscriptions on the cave walls and in the spaceship all indicate that _I'm_ supposed to be the Overlord." 

Lex scanned his lover's face and realized that the Kryptonian Pout of Death would ultimately be the undoing of civilization on Earth. He took a breath. "Okay. Back to the topic at hand." He stroked Clark's arm. "Now, tell me: What exactly do you feel or see when you kiss someone to make them forget?" 

"Well, it's sort of like... flashing images. Or maybe kind of like frames of a movie." He tilted his head. "With Lucas, it almost felt like I was examining a roll of film." 

"And how do you erase the memory?" 

Clark thought for a few seconds. "I think I push my mouth harder against the other person's. And I stick my tongue in their mouth. But mostly it seems like I just try to grab the images with my mind and take them out of the other person's mind." 

"Huh." Lex chewed his lower lip. He was silent for half a minute as he toyed with Clark's hair. 

"So, Lex? What do you say? Can I erase that memory?" 

"Well..." He looked at Clark and wondered idly how anyone could so easily cloud his mind with just a simple smile. Here, obviously, was yet another super power waiting to be documented. 

"Please." Clark whispered, squeezing Lex's hand slightly. At least he had the decency not to do his puppy-dog imitation. 

"Okay." Lex said, steeling himself. He made his voice firm, decisive. "Give it your best shot." He forced a smile through the sudden nervousness. "And try not to miss." 

He felt Clark's hands cup his face, and then the large tongue was in his mouth. He closed his eyes and knew that Clark was doing the same. Was Clark trying to get a better view of the images? 

He felt himself becoming aroused. "It's having an effect." His cock twitched in agreement. 

"Good," Clark mumbled. He moved his tongue further into Lex's mouth. 

"But probably not the one you were expecting." Lex broke away. "What do you say we drop the subject and move on?" He brought Clark's hand to his crotch. 

"Let me try again," Clark begged, absent-mindedly massaging Lex's erection. "One more time. And then I promise I'll drop it." 

"Okay." 

This time the kiss was slower and more deliberate. Lex closed his eyes and suddenly he saw faint flashes of images: the interior of the Kent barn, figures that were blurry (Chloe? Clark? himself?). He felt Clark's lips press harder against his. 

Next, he saw a blurry version of Clark standing in the barn, his face twisted into odd, angry expression he hadn't seen since. He felt Clark's tongue probe his mouth and move deeper inward. 

After another quarter of a minute, he began to feel panicky as he ran out of air. He started to struggle and Clark let him go. He took in a deep breath. 

"Well. If nothing else, that was pretty hot and sexy." 

"What was?" Clark had an apprehensive look on his face. 

"The kissing." Lex smiled. "It reminds me of when we used to go driving out into the countryside at night and then park somewhere." 

"Oh. Yeah." Clark smiled hesitantly. "When we started dating." He looked at Lex expectantly. "So. What were we just talking about?" 

"I still remember, Clark. In fact, now I even remember that just before you said those things to me, Chloe had made a rude comment about my being able to afford a toupee." 

"And I laughed." Clark seemed ready to beat himself up again. "How mean." 

"You did." Lex smiled. "But now, her remark seems funny, and not rude." 

Clark dropped back on the pillows with a heavy sigh. "The kiss worked on Lucas. Why didn't it work on you?" 

"You'll have more control as you get used to it." The relief he felt allowed Lex to make his voice as soothing as he could. "Stop worrying, okay?" He took Clark's hand. 

Clark frowned and bit his lip. His eyes widened. "I have a theory." 

"Oh?" 

"It's the green meteor rocks." 

"Clark, there aren't any meteor rocks here in the bedroom. If there were, you'd certainly know." 

"No. What I mean is, the rocks altered your metabolism slightly. Or they affected your body, your system." 

"I'm a mutant?" Lex guffawed. 

Clark snorted. "An asshole, maybe, but not a mutant." His face turned serious as he continued, "Look, you had a fair amount of intense exposure when you were a kid." He reached out and caressed Lex's scalp. "And then when you came back to Smallville, you probably had a lot of low-level, longer-term exposure. Low-level, but it's changed you enough over the years so that you can resist the kiss. But not enough so that you're walking through walls or sucking the fat out of people." 

"No, nothing outlandish like that. I'm merely impervious to the alien kiss of mindlessness." 

" _Forgetfulness_ ," Clark snapped, narrowing his eyes. "You're doing that on purpose." His tone was accusing. 

"I won't deny it. I'm getting back at you for eating the last of my Ben & Jerry's ice cream." 

"It could have been Lucas who ate the ice cream. He's got priors, you know. By the way, I caught him rifling through your Warrior Angel collection the other day." 

Lex didn't answer. He looked off into space and started to tap his finger on his lips. 

"Lex." Clark waved a hand in front his eyes. 

"I, too, have a theory." Lex turned and faced Clark. "I think that this kiss of foolishness--" 

Clark raised two very annoyed eyebrows. "If you don't stop--" 

" _Forgetfulness_. Sorry." He tried hard to make his smile sincere, and knew Clark would get over it if he failed on the sincerity part. "This kiss of forgetfulness deals with memories as if they were bits of data on a hard drive. And its effect is such that it's like erasing those bits from the drive. Maybe that's a way to describe, albeit simplistically." 

"Huh." Clark considered this for a couple of seconds. "I see." 

"But what if certain kinds of memories--say, memories involving a loved one--don't simply reside only as information engraved on a gray-matter hard drive?" 

"Where, then?" 

"Well, Clark, my guess is... here." Lex took Clark's hand and placed it on his own chest. "The human heart is what pumps the blood throughout the body. But what if it has another function that isn't so clearly delineated in a scientific, clinical fashion?" He leaned forward and his chest pressed slightly against Clark's hand. 

"Following this very sketchy theory: in my case, we can say that this is where all things Clark Kent dwell. The good memories and the bad memories." Lex looked at Clark to emphasize his point. "That could be why you can't erase the memory: because it involved you, it's in my heart and not just in my mind. The kiss only deals with whatever the _mind_ stores." 

"Wow." Clark nodded. "I'll go with your theory, I guess." He thought for a few more seconds and then added, "You're never at a loss for words, you glib, fast-thinking, smooth-talking devil." He grinned shyly at Lex. "It's sexy." 

Lex was too lost in thought to notice Clark's inviting expression. "And when someone we love hurts us, why do we often feel a pain here," Lex tapped Clark's chest, "and not here?" With his other hand, he pointed at Clark's temple. 

"So I did hurt you when I said those things." The pain started to show again in Clark's eyes. 

"Okay, a little. And it hurt because, by then, I was in love with you." 

Clark slipped wordlessly into Lex's arms. 

Lex spoke after a while. "You okay?" 

"I'm sorry." Clark whispered. He sighed. 

"I'm sorry that you've been tormenting yourself with guilt." Lex squeezed Clark. 

"I meant about eating your Ben  & Jerry's ice cream." 

"So it _was_ you." He pushed Clark away and whacked him with a pillow. 

"Perhaps I could try to make you forget about your stupid ice cream," Clark murmured, wiggling closer. "Come here." He drew Lex in to his arms and pursed his lips as he brought his face closer to Lex's. 

"Clark, may I make an observation here? We've already established that your kiss of doofus-ness doesn't work on me." 

" _Forgetfulness_!" 

In a split second, Lex found himself flat on his back, his entire body pinned to the mattress by a large, would-be alien despot. 

Clark glared for a moment before jabbing a ferocious tongue at the scar on Lex's upper lip. "And anyway, I wasn't talking anymore about using a kiss to make you forget, you dumb-ass." The tongue snaked into Lex's ear and elicited a shudder. 

"What? No kiss?" Lex puckered his lips in an invitation to Clark. He watched as mischief lit up Clark's face and he felt Clark's hands tighten around his wrists. He also felt the hardness in Clark's crotch throbbing against his own. "Then what exactly did you have in mind, my evil overlord?" 

"I think you've probably guessed, my lowly minion," Clark growled. Their crotches rubbed together. "Haven't you?" 

Lex nodded happily, and he let the game begin. 

~End 


End file.
